The Temptation
by Elliot Pole
Summary: Merida is all set to participate in the archery game as the eldest child of the leader of her clan, but a strange boy shows up who turns out to be her brother. He seems to be fighting to protect her for her own cause. But does he have an ulterior motive? Maybe all is not what it seems.


**The Temptation**

**Chapter One**

The boy called Wee Dingwall had just shot his arrow and hit the target. Merida watched with consternation. At least the boy with the weird Scottish dialect whom no one could understand had missed. He had a monkey on his shoulder and the monkey had been yapping the whole time he was trying to shoot the arrow. Was it proper to say a monkey was yapping? Merida didn't know.

The chap who had hit the target but not the center had fallen on his knees in disgrace. His father had said that at least he hit it, unlike the first clumsy oaf. Of course, Merida was sure that if the young Macintosh had had a monkey on his shoulder, he would have missed too.

And then Wee Dingwall took his time and did not let the bowstring do its thing until Merida's father had shouted, "Just shoot already!" Only then did his arrow come loose and strike the center. He wasn't even aiming for it.

The thing that irritated Merida the most about Wee Dingwall was that when his father was speaking about him, she saw another muscly guy who was rather handsome standing in front of Wee Dingwall, and she thought that was the guy shooting for her hand in marriage. But then Lord Dingwall produced a scrimpy paddle of a fellow who could looked ridiculous.

Well, now it was her turn to shoot. She started to descend the steps and appear in the games arena, when she saw someone else there.

A guy in a hooded cloak stood there, looking like the Grim Reaper, except that he was carrying a bow, not a scythe. He pointed an arrow at Merida. Was she about to die? Who was that guy?

"Remove your cloak at once," the queen commanded.

The guy complied, and Merida was struck by the fact that he looked familiar somehow. His hair was dark and went in waves. He was skinny and lanky. At least he didn't have paint on him like young Macintosh.

Merida's surprise at the stranger's arrival was nothing compared to the expressions on the faces of the king and queen. The king looked as if he had seen the ghost, his face ghastly and pale. The queen's face was green, a color Merida had never seen it before.

"Es…Escudo?"

"Mother, I am here."

Who was the guy calling "Mother"? Merida wondered. There were no women present expect for her and Elinor, and she was certain that she couldn't be the mother of someone close to her age, and she'd know if she had an older brother, so…

Elinor went to embrace him.

This had to be a joke. Merida did not have any siblings except for the triplets.

"Mom, stop this charade right now," she called.

"What do you mean, Merida? This is your long-lost brother, Escudo."

"I don't have any brother, besides the triplets."

"You do. We thought he fell in a lake…you were only a baby then. Apparently he survived." She turned to Escudo. "How did you survive?"

"A maiden in the Nierssu clan found me and raised me. I came back on their ship."

"But we wouldn't seen you!" said Lord Macintosh.

"I was taught how to hide," Escudo said.

"Whatever. You're home, and that's all that matters."

Elinor embraced her son. Then started to lead him towards the raised platform.

"Mother, I have come back for a special purpose."

She turned to him. "And what is that purpose, my boy?"

"To shoot for my own sister's hand," Escudo said.

Elinor's expression went wild. "You don't mean you want to…to marry your sister, do you?"

"No," Escudo said. "That would be ridiculous. I just want to participate for a chance to have her as my partner in life."

"Escudo, you are being un-princelike. I don't know what you were taught in the Nierssu clan, but you are home now and you cannot play these games for your sister's hand."

"Hey, we don't teach nonsense in our clan," said Lord Macintosh.

"Mother, I am doing this, and you will not stop me." And with that, Escudo turned his back on Queen Elinor and steadied his arrow to aim it at the first target.

Merida had been planning to shoot for her own hand, but if her brother was the eldest, it would only work if he shot the arrow himself. But what exactly did he mean by wanting her to be his partner in life? Was he crazy? He had worn a Grim Reaper cloak, after all. Perhaps the maiden who raised him was crazy. Yeah, that must be it.

Escudo let the arrow go. It struck the first target square in the center. Then he shot another, and yet again, it struck the middle. The third arrow pierced through the one Wee Dingwall had shot, and took a second longer to get to the center because of the wood it had to pass through to get there.

Escudo took a bow despite the fact that everyone was glaring at him. Everyone except Wee Dingwall and the monkey on young Macguffin's shoulder, that is.

Elinor went toward her son, glaring at him. Then she slapped him across the face. "You are no son of mine," she said, before starting toward the castle.

"Come along, Merida," she said. Her daughter had wanted to have a word with Escudo, but she couldn't disobey this command. She got off her seat reluctantly and followed her mother to the castle, feeling myriad pairs of eyes on the back on her head.


End file.
